


An Interlude

by Mad_Maudlin



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Masturbation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-23
Updated: 2010-01-23
Packaged: 2017-10-06 14:47:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/54831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mad_Maudlin/pseuds/Mad_Maudlin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ron and Hermione get a brief moment alone and spend it in idle conversation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Interlude

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Callie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Callie/gifts).



It wasn't all research and adventure, though. They had their free times. Like the night Harry slugged off to bed early, uncharacteristically quiet after three solid days of inactionusually he would've been climbing the walls, and Hermione almost went after him, but Ron snagged the hem of her jumper and held her back.

"He's fine," Ron murmured, with one eye on Harry's shoulders slumping up the stairs. "Let him be."

"He's been acting strange all day," she insisted.

"Let him be, all right?"

Hermione watched Harry's feet disappear from sight and sat down on the couch with a small sigh. "I hope he's all right."

"He's fine," Ron said again, and she could tell that he didn't believe it himself for a moment, but that had always been Ron's way of handling Harryhands off, unless it was a distraction. It would've infuriated her if it hadn't so often worked.

"He's going to bed awfully early," she said, but her heart wasn't in it.

Ron shrugged and mumbled, almost to himself, "Probably going to have a wank."

"You think so?"

Ooh, she hadn't been meant to hear that; Ron's ears turned red and he coughed several times. "Er. Ermwell..."

"Because that's nothing to worry about, then."

He looked positively scandalized. "You mean you don't...erm. Oh. Never mind."

"I mean I don't what?"

"Never mind."

She pulled a hefty book of maps into her lap and looked at Ron over the top edge; now his whole face was scarlet. "I know that boys masturbate," she said, just to see what he'd do. "Is that what you're embarrassed about?"

"'m not embarrassed," he said very quietly, and stuck his own face in a book.

"Did you think I would be horrified by the idea?"

He shoved his face deeper into the book. "Don't want to talk about this," he said in an odd sort of sing-song way.

Hermione was, for probably the first time in her life, sick of books. She shifted the maps aside and leaned over, putting her head on Ron's shoulder. He hunched up adorably. "My mum talked to me about it when I was thirteen," she said, though she did blush a little herself. "She said it was natural and healthy as long as it didn't hurt and didn't interfere with the important things in life."

Ron's posture didn't change, but he did peek over the edge of the book. "Your mum told you that?" he asked, sounding a little bit awed.

"Mmm-hmmm."

He seemed to consider this for a moment, then blurted, "My mum told us all we'd go blind and grow horns."

Hermione burst out laughing.

"Well, she did," Ron said, and hunkered down into his book a bit more.

"No, nothat just sounds exactly like something your mum would say," Hermione said.

This seemed to appease him for a moment. "Bill once hexed horns onto Charlie's head, you know, as a joke about it," he offered. "Only I was pretty little, you know, and didn't really get it, and the twins had to explain it to me. And so when I found out Percy had to get glasses..."

"Oh, God!" Hermione buried her face in Ron's shoulder to suppress another fit of giggles, and when she came up for air she saw that he was smiling, too. Still red as a beet, but smiling. "That must've been traumatic," she said, without moving her head, which was now resting fairly comfortably on the bony angle.

"It, er, yeah," Ron said, and cleared his throat loudly. "Just a bit. Thought it _was_ Percy."

He was almost unhunched now, and Hermione found this was a comfortable way to sit, leaning against him so. She tried to imagine a tiny red-haired boy surreptitiously checking his brother for signs of impending horns, and giggled again. Ron angled himself a bit towards her, so her whole face rested on the soft nubbly fabric of his jumper. "I suppose you think my mum was being downright licentious, then, talking to me about it."

"Course not," Ron said. "I like your mum. She was nice."

"I'm glad."

"Although..."

She looked up at him. He had lowered his protective book all the way to his lap, revealing that it had been upside-down the whole time, and he wasn't really looking at her. "What is it?"

He cleared his throat. "Probably nothing."

"Go ahead and tell me."

"Well..." He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "Why was your mum telling you about boys wanking?"

Hermione blinked at him, then sat up straight and blinked again.

"What did I say?" he asked quickly.

A stray giggle escaped her mouth.

"What did I _say?"  
_  
Hermione pressed her head back into its previous position, closing her eyes and breathing in Ron's smell. "Never mind."


End file.
